Hopefully these new projects will bring enough people to drive down the crime in this area. My friend works in a building near by and they have had huge problems. A big appartment complex might be a great thing for this area... residents could perhaps get the city to spend more resources to keep the area safe. Of course the best thing would be to move the bus station...

gshelton91 wrote:Hopefully these new projects will bring enough people to drive down the crime in this area. My friend works in a building near by and they have had huge problems. A big appartment complex might be a great thing for this area... residents could perhaps get the city to spend more resources to keep the area safe. Of course the best thing would be to move the bus station...

Greyhound and McDonald's are the biggest perpetuators of crime in the area.

The demand is for hotels in Dallas is incredibly high. Why? Because we are becoming a central business mecca for North American commerce. The fact is, we just might not have enough, yet, to satisfy demand.

Hotel inventory in the CBD has been below 'should be' anticipated levels for decades thanks to a nice string of events, some common across the country, some unique to The Metroplex:

-Like most growing Sunbelt populations centers, White Flight suburb building destabilized the central city sending much of hotel inventory growth toward the edge of town. New & improved schools in the new & improved neighborhood got all the attention and resources, up to date abundant highway access, preferred retail destinations, new office buildings...

-DFW Airport is very much in the ~middle of the population center greatly increasing the convenience of a near-airport hotel location. Even with the rise of Collin County, the big airport is still roughly central and convenient for area residents and over-night visitors. There's always a hefty collection of hotels near a big airport, but in DFW the concentration has been advanced by an airport location convenient to business centers, shopping destinations, entertainment/tourist venues and residents.

-The recessions of 1980s was wild enough for everyone, but in the Fossil Fuel economy of Texas crashed hard and made everything worse. Dallas, specifically the CBD, was double-D devastated thanks to the crony-conoclastic S&L and Real Estate meltdown. I believe most of the white collar criminals never got investigated, few were punished. But the city suffered in deep freeze because of it, sending whatever moxie was left toward the edge of town.

-Despite all of this, the CBD/greater downtown comprised the biggest employment center, but the allure of suburban newness usurped overnight stay desirability. The convention center has always been popular, but for a decade or so the regional dynamics created unhealthy relationship as CBD hotels became overly responsive to Convention Center activities decreasing variety of hotel type.

All of this contributed to a downtown hotel room inventory about a quarter of what would be typical. Since 2010, hotel inventory has increased in the downtown area, and the type of rooms available have expanded; the increase hasn't really kept up with the neighborhood, though -- we're just now beginning to see the return of venue variety. Expect to seem many more hotels, and a huge increase in variety and style.

I'm not concerned about the amount of hotels opening in the CBD. As stated before, demand is catching up especially in the mid-priced and budget range. Notice how it's mostly Mariott, Hampton Inn, Cambria (Choice Hotels), La Quinta and only one high-end hotel, The Statler.

I can see from my office at Renaissance Tower that the construction scaffolding is coming off of this one now. Honestly, it looks worse than I expected. Lazy design. Uninspired color palette. Cheap materials. Complete unawareness of - if not outright contempt for - the nearby public spaces.

This thing needs to be out by the airport next to an Olive Garden, not on Houston Street in downtown. But at least it's not a parking lot anymore.

I can only see the North and East faces from here but I'll try to walk by sometime soon and get photos.

There will be a rooftop bar up there. I can kinda see having a separate dedicated elevator for it, especially to keep the boozywoozys from disturbing the wrong hallway, or those who were there who aren't hotel guests who might have had too much fun on the roof... either way, it keeps the main elevator(s) free for regular guests.

Also according to some newer renderings, I saw there will be a ground floor cafe with a patio on the main doors corner. Originally I felt like they had almost nothing planned around the ground floor so a cafe will be a much better addition. The former small slice parking lot will be a valet/driver-for-hire/drive-thru area for the hotel.

It's just one of the most awkward buildings I have ever seen built. It won't have trouble selling rooms though because of it so we just have to live with it until they repaint it in 10yrs and make it look worse somehow.